In-car internet here

THE Internet has arrived in vehicles as BMW introduces a three-tiered in-car telematics and communications system.

Dubbed “ConnectedDrive”, it debuts as standard equipment in the newly revised E65/E66 BMW 7 Series, and as an option on the 6 Series and V8 5 Series.

ConnectedDrive provides front seat occupants with limited internet access (BMW Online) and/or live connectivity to a staffed call centre (BMW TeleAssist).

Both are sold as separate packages for a monthly/annual fee, although a free first year’s membership is included to help the system get off the ground.

BMW says ConnectedDrive is the sort of option people need to use first before they can fully appreciate the benefits it provides.

Within two years a third feature known as Driver Assistance is expected to follow.

Described as an “industry-leading platform” and currently under trial in Germany, it allows real-time traffic flow monitoring and car-to-car hazard communication to take place.

All are operable within the controversial iDrive console user interface system BMW has made available in all of its new models since the E65’s 2001 debut.

No information is sent without a direct request for it first, so it’s a ‘pull-in’ rather than a ‘push-to-car’ data stream. Attachments are barred so the likelihood of virus infection is virtually eliminated.

The BMW Online feature allows the car’s front-seat occupants to search BMW dealers and access Yellow Pages directory services via the company’s Internet portal.

Info can be downloaded to the satellite navigation system if required.

Stock market (though not live up-to-the-minute share values), weather, a hotels and restaurants guide, news and a travel and leisure info service via the Sensis City Search can also be downloaded.

The Mobile Office program brings some PC (personal computer) functions to the car.

It allows account holders to receive PIN-activated emails inside the vehicle or via WAP mobile phone connectivity or the Internet, along with a limited and pre-configured standard text reply function.

Rear seat operation may be included in Australian ConnectedDrive BMWs soon.

Meanwhile the TeleAssist feature is activated only by the driver or authorised occupant of the vehicle.

By the time questions about direction, current position, destination information or details about specific locations or services are asked, the live operator already has data on the vehicle’s mobile, registration and identification numbers, as well as its model and colour.

The information requested can be sent via SMS to the car, conversed between driver and operator, or downloaded directly into the car’s higher-end (essential) satellite navigation system.

The latter also assists in the event of airbag deployment by automatically sending a message to the call centre along with exact location details of the mishap, which can then send help and/or converse with the car’s occupants. Breakdown assistance is also provided the same way.

Retrofitting for ConnectedDrive is possible only in the current generation (January 2002-plus) 7 Series and E60 5 Series provided that iDrive, telephone and the aforementioned high-end satellite navigation systems have been fitted.

Australia is the seventh market outside Great Britain, Germany, Italy the USA, Japan and Dubai to have ConnectedDrive connectivity, with more to follow.

The system is now in its seventh year of operation, having debuted in 1999.

According to Holbe Jeebe – BMW AG’s project manager for ConnectedDrive, it is about connecting the driver, car and environment as a “harmonic concept.” BMW is keen to point out the benefits of improved traffic flow that ConnectedDrive can bring – and refers to it as a “virtual co-pilot” – but stresses that no responsibility or onus is omitted from the driver.

Unlike the Holden Assist telematics device introduced here four years ago, there is no tracking platform for stolen vehicles, or the ability to remotely activate a vehicle’s immobiliser.

According to Mr Jeebe, this has been a conscious decision made by BMW AG since it raises Big Brother like concerns about authoritarian intervention in the driving process, and about how far such things should be taken.

He likens it to police remotely slowing down or stopping vehicles they believe are going too fast.

BMW has a history of pioneering in-car communications.

It introduced Global Positioning System Satellite Navigation to Australian 7 Series buyers in 1997 three years after its world debut as an original equipment option.

ConnectedDrive subscription rates are:

BMW Online:	$350 per annum or $30 per month
BMW TeleAssist:	$400 per annum or $33 per month

Note: First year’s subscription to both services are free as long as it is requested at the time of the new vehicle’s sale.

Driven to distraction?

QUESTIONS about ConnectedDrive providing another potentially dangerous distraction for the driver have already been raised with BMW Australia.

This is because, in its current form, ConnectedDrive does require that the driver’s eyes stray off the road to read an albeit large and positioned high-up screen that is receiving text messages.

Compounding this is a live operator from the BMW TeleAssist centre who is trained to ask for verbal confirmation of a message received.

The company counteracts this by stressing that drivers take all care and responsibility for their actions, and to use the system only when it is absolutely safe to do so – ie: when the car is stationary.

Furthermore BMW points out that a front-seat passenger can just as easily interact with the system.

Currently there is no communication cut-out as per in-car TV picture reception to the driver to divert his/her eyes from the road.

According to project manager Holbe Jeebe, this potentially controversial element of ConnectedDrive can be minimised by the implementation of the voice interaction ‘reading’ of the data that is already well in the pipeline.

He describes it as a ‘natural’ conversational interface that doesn’t have the stilted and sometimes difficult to understand computer voice of similar voice-activated communication streams.